Sit down with your choice of caffeinated beverage, relax, and enjoy some of the more interesting things that Chris and Anne have been reading this week.
Volcanoes
- Must-read post by Erik Klemetti on volcanic future of the Yellowstone Caldera: small eruptions more likely than big.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/the-future-at-yellowstone-caldera/ - Some see tropical paradise. Anne sees a volcano: : View of Bora Bora (1 of 1st images by SPOT 6).
http://www.astrium-geo.com/na/4423-first-images-from-spot-6
(via @NASA_EO)
Earthquakes
- Earthquake prediction: difficult, almost impossible, or simply impossible? Ed Yong investigates:
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120920-will-we-ever-predict-earthquakes - Great pics from Dave Petley: Alpine Fault thrusting metamorphic rocks over river gravels, landslides and sedimentation.
http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2012/09/22/landslides-and-the-alpine-fault-in-new-zealand/ - Japanese town ponders a pre-emptive relocation due to tsunami risk – if they agree, will be the first.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/fearing-new-tsunami-japanese-town-to-vote-on-relocation/story-e6frg6so-1226476051523
Planets
- Curiosity is a real geologist: when driving its cameras are easily turned by pretty outcrops. This one q coarse grained
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/09171235-curiosity-sol39-mosaic-truthan.html - Pretty cool: Dawn observes evidence of hydrogen and water on Vesta. Not just dead since dawn of solar system, it seems…
http://arstechnica.com/science/2012/09/evidence-for-hydrogen-and-water-on-vesta-hints-at-planetoids-past/ - Music of the Spheres – The Sounds of Earth’s Magnetosphere, at frequencies directly audible to humans!
http://climatecrocks.com/2012/09/18/music-of-the-spheres-the-sounds-of-earths-magnetosphere/
(via @planet3org)
Fossils
- Strange but true: creationists are particularly annoyed by feathered dinosaurs. Brian Switek explains.
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2012/09/creationists_and_dinosaurs_answers_in_genesis_teams_with_dissident_scientists_to_deny_feathered_dino_fossil_record.single.html
(Paleo)climate
- Canadian climate reconstructed from fossil wood that fell to bottom of volcanic kimberlite vents. Wow.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0045537
(via @OrbitalPete) - Can you ‘prove’ an extreme flood or forest fire wouldn’t have happened without climate change? It’s tricky.
http://www.nature.com/news/extreme-weather-1.11428
In response, RealClimate discusses the ins and outs of extreme climate event attribution
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2012/09/why-bother-trying-to-attribute-extreme-events/ - New York Times: New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/11/nyregion/new-york-faces-rising-seas-and-slow-city-action.html
(via @Revkin) - The struggles of Galveston…great story highlighting tension in local communities caused by sea level rise/coastal erosion.
http://texasclimatenews.org/wp/?p=5540
(via @HeidiCullen) - Final score for this year’s Arctic sea-ice minimum: 3.41 million square km, 18% below previous record low in 2007.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/19/arctic-ice-shrinks
http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/2012/09/arctic-sea-ice-extent-near-minimum/ - Meanwhile, a good discussion of how even latest models find it hard to reproduce recent rapid Arctic sea ice decline.
http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2012/09/models-are-improving-but-can-they-catch-up.html - Post-Fukushima edging away from nuclear power could have a very negative impact on attempts to reduce CO2 emissions.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/sep/14/nuclear-global-warming - It’s also worth noting the upcoming uranium production shortfall, due to loss of major source (25% of annual demand for uranium met by decommissioned nuclear weapons, but next year that supply is being cut off.) and bad mining economics.
http://www.theenergyreport.com/pub/na/14344
Water
- The concept and design behind this interactive daily water budget model is awesome
Content-http://wikiwatershed.org/mmw/mini/index.htm - Check out this cool USGS primer video on urban streams that Anne found.
http://all-geo.org/jefferson/usgs-primer-on-urban-streams/ - Things Anne is reading this weekend – All about Rain Gardens
http://www.lowimpactdevelopment.org/raingarden_design/index.htmhttps://www.bae.ncsu.edu/topic/raingarden/http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/Government/AgencyIndex/DER/ESG/Bioretention/pdf/Bioretention Manual_2009 Version.pdf - Maybe even more immediately relevant: homeowner’s guide to drainage problems and solutions
http://www.princegeorgescountymd.gov/Government/AgencyIndex/DER/ESG/pdf/RDMANUAL.pdf - Georgia officials give drought the silent treatment –
http://www.latimes.com/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-georgia-drought-20120916,0,2925119.story - Shipping exec: ‘the mighty Mississippi has been a weakling lately.’ [because of drought]
http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/15/us/drought-impact/index.html
(via @billmckibben) - A new paper shows significant increases in flood levels in stream reaches with levees and upstream (up to 2.3 m!) (link to abstract)
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hyp.8261/abstract - Groundwater recharge from overbank floods [link to abstract]
http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2012/2011WR011441.shtml
Environmental
- A slightly sarcastic account of Shell’s Arctic drilling attempt, now effectively suspended until next year.
http://grist.org/news/shell-gives-up-on-arctic-drilling-until-next-year/ - Meanwhile, on the UK, a parliamentary committee recommends a ban oil drilling in the Arctic until decent spill responses in place.
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/news/announcement-of-report-publication1/
(via @EuroGeosciences, @adamvaughan_uk) - Interview with University of Texas geologist Susan Hovorka on her research into carbon capture and storage
http://earthsky.org/earth/susan-hovorka-on-carbon-capture-and-storage - Important question addressed in this paper: Landform change due to soil redistribution by intense tillage based on high-resolution DEMs (link to abstract)
http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0169555X12003339?via=sd&cc=y - Sustainable Infrastructure in Shrinking Cities by colleagues Kent State University:
http://www.kent.edu/cpapp/research/upload/infastructure-in-shrinking-cities.pdf - Great overview video of what Cleveland & @neorsd are doing about combined sewer overflows…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1-aULDM0R0
General Geology
- Best. Field. Trip. Ever. Exploring the connection between rocks, water and whisky
http://blog.geolsoc.org.uk/2012/09/17/whisky-on-the-rocks/
(via @Geoblogfeed) - Woohoo! @JacquelynGill gets a bigger megaphone on the @ScientopiaBlogs guest blog
http://scientopia.org/blogs/guestblog/2012/09/17/mammoths-acacias-and-breadfruit-oh-my/ - Interesting looking Nature Geoscience paper on link between river drainage and tectonic deformation in Southern Alps of NZ.
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo1582.html - Anthropocene readings #1: “Humanity has become a global force whose exploits will be written in rock for millennia”
http://lareviewofbooks.org/article.php?id=707&fulltext=1 - Anthropocene readings #2: human vs deep time as scientists debate where/how to draw the epochal line.
http://eenews.net/public/Greenwire/2012/09/17/1 - In Australia, they don’t just have tornados. They have tornados made of fire!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/p/3agap/tw
(via @AJCorner)
Interesting Miscellaney
- Scientists, Your Gender Bias Is Showing
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmicvariance/2012/09/19/scientists-your-gender-bias-is-showing/
(via @mabakerusu) - Academia is a cult.
http://membracid.wordpress.com/2007/07/28/academia-is-a-cult/
(via @bug_girl) - Biogeochemistry tenure-track faculty position in Biology at Kent State University. Come join the cool people [in the cult].
http://all-geo.org/jefferson/biogeochemistry-faculty-position-in-biology-at-kent-state-university/ - !!! Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say via
http://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html
(via @BrianShiro, @SPACEdotcom) - This explains much: The Romney Campaign is being brought to you by the makers of Lost…
http://www.citizenschwartz.com/showrunner-jj-abrams-promises-inexplicable-inconsistencies-glaring-logic-problems-will-all-be-explained-in-satisfying-series-finale-to-romney/ - This astounding photo catching a drop in the act of formation wouldn’t be out of place in an art gallery.
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/visualscience/2012/09/17/the-beautiful-breaking-point/
(via @edyong209)
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